You’ll need many skills, hours of practice, and a lot of experience to be able to cope with the responsibilities of a UX designer.
Step 1: Acquire Essential Skills
As evidenced by a UX designer's daily tasks, you’ll need to acquire some technical skills, including:
UX Research
Designers need to be familiar with the program and the market. This includes creating user personas and gathering data to make informed decisions.
Visual and Interactive Design
The most essential part of UX design is creating visually appealing and interactive programs. Aesthetically pleasing designs are at the heart of the user experience.
Designers can understand how the users will interact with the program by analyzing the users’ mental models. This approach helps create the best experience for the users.
Wireframing and Prototyping
While working on projects, UX designers create wireframes and prototypes to ensure that the project stays on track at all times. Wireframes and prototypes are also created to validate the work with the project’s stakeholders.
UX Writing
Writing engaging words that help users make decisions is an unsung talent. Creating appealing microscopies is an essential, often overlooked, part of UX design.
Coding
UX designers don’t write the code themselves. However, they need to learn basic programming languages such as JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
This skill can help designers understand what goes behind their choices, and eases the handoff process between designers and developers.
Step 2: Get the Fundamental Tools
There are several tools widely used by UX designers to create prototypes and wireframes. Having the basic knowledge of those tools will help you greatly in advancing your design career.
Adobe Illustrator: One of the most popular vector-based tools for graphic designers. It’s perfect for beginner and professional designers alike.
Adobe Photoshop: Another member of the Adobe family, this tool is ideal for image editing and manipulation. It provides all of the basic functions needed by designers.
Adobe XD: This design tool is mainly used to create wireframes, prototypes, and even full designs. It’s considered an entire UX program as it can be used to create a design from scratch.
Proto.io: This web tool helps you create interactive prototypes. It’s perfect for transforming your idea into a mockup.
UXPin: A popular wireframing tool used by most of the world’s top companies. It’s easy to learn, and knowing how to use it will certainly be beneficial in the long run.
Figma: A perfect option for beginner designers. It’s a free web tool that helps you create your designs and wireframes.
Step 3: Build Your UX Designer Portfolio
The last and most crucial step in becoming a UX designer is to create your personal UX design portfolio. It’s essential when applying for positions to have a portfolio of your work at hand.
Your portfolio should consist of your most impressive UX case studies. It should demonstrate your abilities as a designer. Your digital portfolio itself can be a case study!
Taking a project-based UX Design course is one way to start building your portfolio. An employer will want to see something tangible from the theories you learn in a course, so a project-based course should give you the best of both worlds.
Such courses won’t only get you started, but will also help you refine and polish your work for the job market.
You can also view other designers’ portfolios, so you can develop an eye for UX designs and come up with your own style. In addition, there are online tools that can help you build a portfolio.